I never had too many friends. At 10, back in 3rd grade, I had my first bff, so to speak. Let’s call her R. We used to split the sandwiches at school, read the same fiction books and shared the same school bench for three or four years in a row.

At a certain point we grew apart, she liked to hang around with the older guys and I didn’t. R was a very precocious child and we no longer had the same tastes and interests. That’s it. We were teens, ready to make new friends and develop new sympathies, except that we didn’t share the same values anymore, and that was fine.

Don’t get me wrong, I got along well with all my classmates, however there was always that one girl that I confided in more.

During high school, that girl was A. Our friendship flourished beautifully during those years and it’s still existent to this day. She’s the link with my young years, my careless years. We shared happy memories together.

We loved reading beyond anything else, and moreover we were both potterheads, so you can imagine all the tête-à-tête conversations that we had. We dreamt about things like any other schoolgirls and giggled a lot. An immense sadness hit me when we went to be students in different cities.

I remember a funny story about our last year of high school. In Romania we usually have some sort of festivities at the end of the 12th grade to celebrate our graduation. Well, our school uniforms consisted of short, khaki, pleated skirts, a white shirt and a waistcoat matching the skirt. Guess who hated it?

Exactly! We decided that we won’t wear the skirt, just because it didn’t vibe with us, and we didn’t really give a damn about it. Therefore, we were the only two girls dressed with black jeans instead of skirts, standing out in the crowd.

A. travelled a couple of times to the US during uni years and she fell in love with that country. So when she went the third time, she stayed. I haven’t seen her in like 4 years or so and with this pandemic I don’t even know when we’ll see each other again.

Anyhow, we kept in touch. And if it were to see each other again today, we would be as noisy and chatty as we were ten years ago. It’s nice to have the kind of people in your life that no mater how long has been since you last saw one another, things never change.

Our dream as teens was to one day visit New York. Well, she did accomplish her dream, but life drove me in another direction. Nevertheless, I am happy for her! I’m sure that one day I’ll get there as well.

Nowadays, we have our regular chats on Instagram, like each other’s pictures and laugh at memes, but she’s not here, and I miss her terribly.

I miss her laugh and mischievousness, the tangible conversation and the way we chatted and laughed at our inside jokes, or reminisced about things we’ve done or said at one point.

My friend is a beautiful lady now, with blonde curly hair and from what I remember, very sassy. Smart and brave, A. is a bit of a tomboy and definitely an extrovert. She always had friends, people liked her and she did well in school and in life overall.

I can’t wait for her to visit Romania again, give her a big hug and take a moment to catch up with our lives.

In a way, she is an inspiration for me, because of her ambition and determination of having her dream come true, her courage of living a life of her own, far from her family and loved ones. I respect her choices and I am last, but not least, proud of her.

Just so you know, I started this article with a different topic in mind, but my thoughts brought me here and I wanted to share this with you, because A. is a fabulous friend and I wanted you to get to know a bit of her.